How to watch Google I/O live stream: What to expect Google I/O 2017

Published17th, May 2017

Google I/O 2017 takes place this evening, and during the opening keynote we’ll hear all about the great things Google has in store for the year ahead, including Android O. Here’s how to watch the Google I/O live stream and follow our live blog.

Google I/O 2017 kicks off with a keynote this Wednesday at 6pm. Watch it live right here

Google I/O 2017 key facts

Where:Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California.Google I/O keynote live stream: Sundar Pichai will be on stage to open the conference on Wednesday 17 May at 6pm until 7.30pm (UK). We have embedded the live stream[5] at the top of this page.

What to expect at Google I/O 2017

Obviously there’s Android O, which will be star of the show. It’s the next version of the mobile OS following Android Nougat[7], which succeeded KitKat[8], Lollipop[9] and Marshmallow[10]. A Developer Preview is available to download to Nexus and Pixel devices now, though we advise readers to await the arrival of the official public beta, which should be announced at the event.

If impatience gets the better of you, you can see how to download Android O here[11]. Google has announced Project Treble just ahead of the conference, which in essence makes it easier for phone makers to push out OS updates to end users much more quickly. Right now only 7.1 percent of Android users are on last year’s Nougat release, and 31.2 percent are on 2015’s Marshmallow (source[12]).

With a lot of users on even older versions of Android, Treble is a big deal – and good news for Android O hopefuls. We already know a bit about Android O’s new features[13], thanks to the Developer Preview, and some of the changes you’ll see later this year include user-customisable notification channels with alerts grouped by type, a picture-in-picture mode, adaptive icons, improved gestures and enhancements to productivity tasks such as copying and pasting. Other products we should hear more about at the event include Android Wear 2.0[14], Android TV, the Google Assistant and Google Home, Google Chrome and Chromebooks, plus VR/AR.